San Jose & San Francisco Giants Taiwan Days
Back in the spring, I got to attend the Oakland A’s Taiwan Day, which has been an annual occurrence at the Coliseum for several years now. The San Francisco Giants finally decided to join in on the fun, hosting their very first Taiwanese Heritage Night this fall. And to double up on the festivities, they even held a Taiwan Day with their minor league affiliates down at the San Jose Giants just two weeks prior. We were very happy to recruit our friends and attend both!
First, Taiwan Day with the San Jose Giants! We got VIP treatment thanks to Ho Chie’s Taiwanese American community connections. We outfitted little S in a t-shirt befitting the occasion. We also got free dinner, snacks, tote bags, and some free thunder sticks from the sponsors.
A tribute to the major leaguer Giants, many of whom passed through the San Jose Giants to get there. Juan Marichal is the last surviving living legend from the early 60s, and his statue at Oracle Park commemorates this iconic pitching stance. Meanwhile, the starting pitcher of the opposing team, the Stockton Ports, is actually from Taiwan! Tzu-Chen Sha.
Saying hello to Amy and Mike and their two girls!
I volunteered Alex and myself to join a whole group of little kids in singing “Take Me Out to the Ballpark” for the seventh inning stretch. We all lined up and stood here next to the gate to be let out onto the field… and no one came to open the gate, haha. Sad. Instead, we watched as they started a recording of the song and just panned the cameras through the audience.
Well, at least Alex ran into his coworker while we were standing there! And look, we were ready with the lyrics and everything.
They lined the kids up and told them to sing the song to themselves anyway, haha. Sorry kids!
They also gave us these Hello Taiwan hats… and we got SJ Giants baseballs too, as a consolation prize.
Anyway, it was fun to see our various groups of friends at the ballpark! Minor leagues baseball is great. Very casual, with a whole patio area for dining and lots of ways for families to enjoy a day our at a much cheaper cost than at the major leagues!
Little leaguers from Taiwan got to visit and attend the game. And all kids got to run the bases after the game.
“The Road to Oracle Park!” San Jose to San Francisco. Ironically we actually came from Oracle Park that same day, since we ran the Giant Race 5k/10k that morning. Never too much baseball for one day, thinks Alex!
Fast forward two weeks, here we are at the aforementioned Oracle Park! Home of the San Francisco Giants. It’s time for their first ever Taiwanese Heritage Night, sponsored by the Taiwan Tourism Administration (hello, sun bear!) and Eva Airlines.
Love the little heart tail on this sun bear.
Throwing out the honorary first pitch is Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. We were first in line for the ‘meet and greet.’
Jensen is very popular. Look at all of the fans and the amount of media coverage… we found ourselves on Taiwanese TV after this, haha.
We got our group photo!
Ready for the first pitch! Also, a sighting of Corbin Carroll, the half Taiwanese player on the opposing team, the Diamondbacks. The Giants didn’t have any Taiwanese players on their roster except the pitcher Kai-wei Teng, who was sent down to the minor league Sacramento team.
Time to go up to the View Level to retrieve our special edition beanies. I brought my Taiwan Pride flag back from Yun Hai in Brooklyn. We actually arrived back from New York that same morning. Just in time!
The beanies were so popular they sold out! Good job us! It says Taiwan on one side and Giants on the other side, with the sun bear logo.
Very cute group of dancing Taiwanese folks in their matching Eva Air Giants t-shirts.
Turns out Section 105 is where all of the foul balls and practice balls end up. Alex caught one immediately!
Some of the 60+ friends in the group I helped organize, haha.
Of course Kimberly of Formosa Chocolates brought sample chocolates for all of us. So nice! So beautiful!
More Taiwanese foodie friends from around the Bay, with representatives of Yun Hai, Taiwan Bento (RIP), Third Culture, Piglet & Co, Mama Liang’s, and more.
Second ball caught, haha. Good job Alex! Two in one day!
Hello “Taiwanese Americans!” That’s our group on the big board.
Some more friends, from our summer camp in the midwest. And some innocent bystanders who got stuck with our giant group.
Vince got a foul ball too! It hit Lillian in the leg, much to her dismay.
I even had photographer friends in attendance. Alex gave one of his baseballs to Westin. Turns out Westin’s grandma also ended up with her own ball. Souvenirs for everyone!
The Giants were down the whole game but made a late-game rally, which Vince got very excited about. Still lost in the end, but that’s hardly the point, right?
So much fun sharing this special ballpark experience and celebrating Taiwanese heritage with all of these friends!
Already looking forward to next year!
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures, including visiting all 30 MLB stadiums with her baseball-loving husband Alex. Follow her photography @annawuphoto and view more of her work at annawu.com. Contact her to book your own session today.
